Tim:
I have not polled all the members at SH and you are 100% correct -- if the bulk of them don't want it then it won't happen. However, if the matter is tied to the USGA doing a bit more effort to convince the club then it needs to do that. Losing SH, after waiting so many years for it to be resurrected, would be a huge loss to the event itself.
Eastern LI is a special place -- ask anyone who has ever been to the locale and when the US Open is played at such a special place like Shinnecock -- it's no less than what you get with PB, or Oakmont and hopefully what Merion will provide for in 2013.
Bill:
From what I understand -- TCC was asked to be in the slot for the 100th anniversary of Ouimet's victory -- but opted not to. Getting a smaller USGA event would work better because of all the logistical elements tied to the place. Getting to and from TCC is an absolute horror -- it makes getting into Merion look like a super highway was next to the course.
Jason:
What I said then is true -- I'm hopeful that smarter minds can do better than that. If I'm proven wrong with SH being selected for 2018 I'll be the first to say so and say it happily. Thus far, I am not so optimistic but who knows -- golf balls, like course selections, can bounce in funny ways.
Ron:
I care what Tom Doak thinks because he is both extremely intelligent and understands design far more than I and many others do. The average golfer for the most part is more concerned with other elements that are either rudimentary or just tied to their senses with little depth beyond that. I don't agree with all that Tom D says but I respect his take on things because of a lifetime commitment to what golf design can and should be about.
Ron, the eastern LI area is central to the root beginnings of golf in the USA -- when the USGA first decided (thanks to a number of people including if I recall correctly Frank Hannigan) that Shinnecock would be returned to the championship stage there's little doubt that few people -- save for those who know golf courses -- had ever heard of it. I hope that 2018 permits that return -- of all the NY-area courses SH is the first among equals. It's too bad that BB has been impacted by poor weather in '02 & '09 but both events there were carried out well inspite of the incessant raindrops.
Winged Foot / West is also a fine choice for a location closer to NYC.
I'm happy that Oakmont and PB are already scheduled -- getting SH back into the rota for a 5th time would be ideal to me and others like me who see Shinnecock as the quintessential US Open layout for what it provides and where it is located.